March 11 coronavirus news

Michigan officials have announced the state has confirmed it’s first two presumptive positive coronavirus cases. Authorities there have now declared a state of emergency.

“We are taking every step we can to mitigate the spread of the virus and keep Michiganders safe,” said Governor Gretchen Whitmer.

New cases in Florida and Georgia: Health authorities in Florida and Georgia also announced new coronavirus cases Tuesday night.

The Florida Department of Health said there are eight new patients in the state, all of whom "are being appropriately cared for and isolated.”

Florida has now identified 23 patients and recorded two deaths in the state.   

Georgia, meanwhile, identified five new presumptive positive cases. One is in south Georgia's Charlton County and four are in the greater Atlanta area -- three in Cobb County and one in Fulton County.

The Georgia Department of Health said that “all but one individual (the one in Fulton) are hospitalized. One of the Cobb presumptive positives has a travel history outside of the country, the sources of the other infections are unknown.”

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker has declared a state of emergency "to support the commonwealth’s response" to the coronavirus outbreak there.

The state has identified 92 presumptive positive cases, authorities said. Seventy of them are related to a conference hosted by Biogen, a multinational biotechnology company in Cambridge, in late February.

Baker said in a statement that the executive branch of the Massachusetts government will:

Famous tourist sites were deserted, a smattering of bar-goers kept at arm's length from each other at formerly lively establishments and worried citizens stood in line outside once bustling stores in Italy after drastic restrictions were imposed to contain the deadliest coronavirus outbreak outside China.

There was confusion across the country on the first day of a national lockdown that includes a ban on all public events, the closure of schools and public spaces -- including museums and movie theaters -- and the suspension of religious services including funerals or weddings.

Hundreds of seats lay eerily empty in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, which was closed to tourists on Tuesday. Like many people here, the Pope was shut away behind closed doors, but he asked priests to have the courage to visit those affected by coronavirus in his daily livestream from his private residence.

Lydia Carelli, a 26-year-old intern at the Italian Supreme Court in Rome, told CNN: "This is the strangest situation that I've ever lived, these restrictions are similar to times of war."

She said her family wanted her to return home to Naples, but she would "rather not take any risks" in case she had been exposed to the virus.

Read more:

RELATED

Cities deserted, families separated and social life on hold in Italy's first day of lockdown

Chinese authorities reported 24 confirmed coronavirus cases and 22 deaths related to the global coronavirus pandemic on Tuesday.

Ten of the newly confirmed cases were people arriving from overseas, meaning that mainland China has now imported 79 coronavirus cases.

All the deaths occurred in Hubei province, the outbreak's epicenter, according to China's National Health Commission (NHC).

Total numbers: Mainland China has now confirmed 80,778 coronavirus patients, 61,475 of whom have recovered and been discharged from hospitals. The death toll in mainland China now stands at 3,158.

Fourteen new coronavirus infections have been confirmed in Canada, most of which were travel-related, authorities said.

Seven of the new infections are in Alberta and seven in British Columbia -- where two cases of possible community spread are under investigation.

Canada has now identified 93 coronavirus patients in total, and one fatality in a North Vancouver long-term care home. Two of the seven cases reported in British Columbia on Tuesday were employees of that home.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, said that the public will "need to get used to a new normal.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is expected to announce more emergency measures Wednesday along with an economic support package for patients and businesses affected by the health crisis.

These are the Canadian provinces where coronavirus patients have been identified:

Australia has extended its travel ban to Italy as confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in the country hit 112, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced at a news conference in Canberra on Wednesday.

The ban, which comes into effect on Wednesday evening in Australia, places foreign passengers from Italy under the same restrictions that have been implemented for travelers from China, South Korea and Iran.

All Australian nationals traveling from Italy will also be subjected to a mandatory 14-day quarantine upon their return, Morrison added.

Morrison also unveiled $2.4 billion Australian dollars ($1.56 billion) in additional health funding to combat the spread of the virus.

Of the total, $100 million Australian dollars ($65 million) will fund a new tele-health service for citizens undergoing home isolation. This service will help those in quarantine receive health consultations via their phone on video such as FaceTime or Skype, Australia's Minister for Health, Greg Hunt added.

Australia's coronavirus patients have been identified in the following states and territories*:

*10 cases in Australia are linked to the Diamond Princess cruise ship.

Manchester City's English Premier League clash with Arsenal scheduled for Wednesday has been postponed after it was revealed that several of the Gunners' players and personnel had “close contact” with Evangelos Marinakis -- the owner of Greek club Olympiacos who recently contracted the coronavirus -- when those teams played February 27.

Those who were in contact with Marinakis are self-isolating at their homes until the recommended 14-day isolation period comes to an end on Thursday.

Manchester City sits second in the EPL table, trailing Liverpool, while Arsenal is ninth.

Authorities in Hong Kong have confirmed five more coronavirus infections as of Tuesday night local time, bringing the total number of patients in the city to 120.

Two cases are connected to a confirmed case in Canada, while three are related to a group that traveled to Egypt.

The semiautonomous city responded to the first reports of the virus by sealing off much of its border with mainland China, encouraging private companies to let workers telecommute and closing schools.

However, not all in the city were satisfied with the government's response. Many were still angry about how the government had handled the months of political unrest that preceded the coronavirus outbreak.

As the number of novel coronavirus cases in the United States approached 1,000 on Tuesday, officials further clamped down on large public gatherings and increasingly called for students to take classes online.

People need to be prepared for some major changes in their lives, one federal official said.

Since the pandemic began in the United States, at least 975 cases have been reported. A total of 31 people have died -- 24 in Washington state, two in Florida, three in California and new deaths reported Tuesday by New Jersey and South Dakota.

The advisories to limit public interaction have caused politicians to cancel or shift campaign rallies, educators to close school districts or tell college students to take classes online, and television shows and sports teams to recognize they may have to go without audiences for a while.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has even taken the step of declaring a 1-mile "containment" area around a section of New Rochelle where cases are concentrated. He's also sending in the National Guard to deliver food to homes and to help clean public spaces.

The New York City suburb is where a man who lives in the community tested positive for the virus last week, as did his wife, son and daughter. The containment area extends out from his synagogue, officials said.

The governor stressed this meant closing schools and places of worship. They are not restricting people's movements in and out of the city of roughly 80,000 people.

Read more:

RELATED

The coronavirus-infected Grand Princess will disembark more passengers as outbreak widens in the US